Students from around the state get a lesson in government Feb. 1 in the State House, Trenton, during Catholic Schools Week. John Batkowski photos

Students from around the state gathered Feb. 1 at the State House in Trenton to celebrate the many contributions made by Catholic schools and to recognize the standouts of the annual Catholic Schools Week poster and video project.

Sponsored by the New Jersey Network of Catholic Families and the New Jersey Catholic Conference, the day included a tour of the State House and a presentation of the selected poster and video entries that depicted, “Why I Love My Catholic School.”

Those were the words Father John Bambrick used to describe the pews full of kindergarten through eighth-grade students from St. Aloysius School, Jackson, who gathered for Mass Feb. 2 at the end of Catholic Schools Week.

The student body in Holy Cross School, Rumson, heeded Jesus’ call to “feed the hungry” this winter by staging a school-wide food drive that came to fruition during Catholic Schools Week.More ...Friday, February 9, 2018

Some 48 eighth-graders walked in the shoes of their teachers Feb. 2 during Teacher Appreciation Day, a Catholic Schools Week tradition in Brick’s St. Dominic School where teachers leave the instruction to their students.More ...Friday, February 9, 2018

“Each of us are given grace and called to follow the Gospels in our own lives, not just me because I’m a nun,” Sister of St. Joseph of Medaille Helen Prejean told an overflow audience in the Christian Brothers Academy, Lincroft, auditorium Feb.1.

Sister Helen, a 78-year-old Baton Rouge native, held the more than 950 students and guests spellbound for her talk on social justice during the celebration of Catholic Schools Week at the secondary school.

What children aspire to become depends on many factors, not the least of which is the adults to whom they’re exposed. In St. Peter School, Point Pleasant Beach, educators are making sure some of that exposure includes people living a religious vocation.

The familiar phrase “strength in numbers” took on added meaning Jan. 29 when some 1,300 students from St. Joseph Grammar School and Donovan Catholic converged in St. Joseph Church to begin their celebration of Catholic Schools Week.More ...Thursday, February 8, 2018

The gymnasium of St. Veronica School was filled with STEAM Feb. 2 as the Howell school welcomed a portable field trip that tested the students’ minds with projects and games designed to teach science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics.More ...Tuesday, February 6, 2018

In a nod to its Catholic Schools Week theme of “Hearts to Lead, Hands to Serve,” fourth- through eighth-grade students in St. Mary of the Lakes School, Medford, spent a school day hand-tying more than three dozen blankets adorned with pink hearts for young homeless or runaways not too much older than themselves.More ...Monday, February 5, 2018

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy recently signed a proclamation designating the week of Jan. 28-Feb. 3, 2018, as Catholic Schools Week in New Jersey and acknowledging the contributions of Catholic schools to the public welfare of all New Jerseyans.More ...Monday, January 29, 2018

As pipes and drums played a marching tune, more than 1,000 students, parents, teachers and administrators careened down the sloping and rather soggy sands in back of Sea Bright’s Donovan’s Reef Jan. 28 and into the rolling sea.

“Everyone had a good time,” said Eugenia Kelly, pastoral assistant in Holy Cross Parish, Rumson. “There were so many schools; their flags were flying; there were pipers and all the kids. It was really a special start to the week.”

When a child is baptized in the Catholic Church, his/her parents make promises to help their child grow in the Church’s faith. Parents are their “first teachers,” their “first preachers” of the faith and, as a result, the family home becomes the “first Catholic school” and a “domestic Church.” More ...Friday, January 26, 2018

For one special week each year, Catholic schools in the Diocese of Trenton join others nationwide in a unique celebration of all that make these institutions of faith and learning remarkable.

Catholic Schools Week, running from Jan. 28 through Feb. 3, is a time for schools to highlight their academic excellence, spirit of service, leadership, community and discipleship, and their continuum of faith formation that prepares students to make a difference in their world.

Flip through The Monitor’s annual salute to Catholic schools, which published Jan. 25.

January 28 through February 3 marks a time of celebration nationwide. Each year during Catholic Schools Week, school doors open wide inviting the public to be a part of the Catholic school experience.More ...Thursday, January 25, 2018

When Dr. Ryan Killeen asked pastors and principals to describe their perception of the significance of the Catholic school in their parish communities, their responses ran the gamut of eye-opening, encouraging, and, sometimes, funny.More ...Thursday, January 25, 2018

In the five-plus weeks since the announcement was made that Holy Cross Academy in Delran will close as a diocesan school in June, plans to convert the institution to a private entity moved forward in earnest and are already showing results.More ...Thursday, January 25, 2018

Trenton Catholic Academy and Eet Gud Bakery are staples in their community.

Situated just a mile apart in Hamilton, their fingerprints in the neighborhood are far-reaching, with alumni and fans from all over, going back generations. So the fact that the two will be more closely related in the future can only come as welcome news to those who have benefitted from what they provide.

“It’s a challenge, but it’s a good challenge,” said St. Katharine Drexel pastor Father Christopher P. Picollo about the inclusion of a Catholic school in the life of the parish that he leads.More ...Thursday, January 25, 2018

“You need a team to run a school,” said Trinitarian Father Gerard F. Lynch, pastor of St. Ann Parish, about the 2010 Blue Ribbon School of Excellence which shares the church’s Lawrenceville campus.More ...Thursday, January 25, 2018